Girl Talk
by Is you heart in the game
Summary: Set during the fourth book, after Morgan rescues her sister from Bakker. Mary K. talks to Morgan about Hunter.


I stared at my closet. Thinking about my appearance seemed so…mundane after everything that had happened today. My panic attack, my frantic drive to Practical Magick, the tàth thing with Hunter…

The confusion I always felt when I was with him bubbled up to the surface of my mind, but I pushed it down. It was almost time for the circle, meaning almost time to see Cal. I missed him, but for some reason whenever Ithought about him now, images of his secret room would associate themselves with his face. I pushed those down, too.

May K.'s music started playing. Instead of her normal energetic rap music, melancholy notes wove themselves into an imaginary blanket of depression. I frowned.

Although my day had been strange, hers had been worse. Her boyfriend had tried to rape her for the second time this month in his car. I had gotten there just in time. Although I hadn't used any witch fire this time, I desperately wanted to. I wanted his head mounted on my wall.

I crossed through the bathroom that joined out two rooms. She was curled up on her bed, clutching her teddy bear to her chest and staring into space.

She looked up at my approach. "Hi."

I gestured to myself. "Can you help?"

She grinned. "You're hopeless."

I grinned back, thankful I'd found something to help take her mind off of Bakker.

She followed me back to my room, turning off the mournful music.

She looked at my closet disapprovingly. "You really need new clothes. Can't you just zap some up with a wave of your hand or something?"

I blinked. Did she actually just make a joke about my being a witch? This was certainly progress.

"Where'd you get this?" she pulled out the blouse Cal had given me for my birthday. I wondered why I hadn't remembered it earlier. She also handed me gray cords.

"I don't know what you should do with your hair…" she looked at me thoughtfully.  
I decided to French braid it. As my hands did their work, I noticed she was still staring at me. "What?"

"You look…different. Pretty." She said.

"Thanks," I said dryly, noting it was sort of a back-handed compliment.

She held up her hands. "That came out wrong. You were pretty before, but now you look…more mysterious. Happier, but not happy in a sense that…I'm not doing a very good job explaining this, am I?"

"No," I laughed.

"I've just never seen you like this before!" She cried, giving up trying to explain herself.

I smiled and shook my head. "Never mind, I'll take the compliment."

I finished my hair and stood back, throwing my arms out. "How do I look?"

"Good." She gave a small smile.

I went and sat next to her on the bed. "How are you feeling?"  
She took one of my pillows and started playing with the loose threads. "A little better. I'm just confused."

I hugged her, feeling so scared that she'd almost been physically hurt for the second time. We sat like that for a minute.

"Morgan, who's Hunter?"

I stiffened. Mary K. looked at me with seemingly innocent eyes.

"He's-" An acquaintance? A semi-stalker? An idiot? "-no one." I finished lamely.

She narrowed her eyes. "Just no one? Because he's come over our house twice. And you always want to talk to him alone."

I couldn't believe we were having this conversation. "Look, it's not like that. He and Cal sort of…don't get along, and they both think they have to protect me from each other."

"You're attracted to him."

"Mary K.!" I practically screeched, trying to hit her with the pillow. "I'm going out with Cal! You know that!"

"Then why are secretly meeting with Hunter all the time?" she asked.

"I'm not! Where is this coming from, anyway?"

"Your look. I finally realized what it is." She stated smugly.

"What?" I asked.

"Attraction."

"I'm attracted to Cal-"

"Maybe you are, but that just means you're intensely attracted to Hunter." I felt a chill go down my spine at her words. I hated her for bringing this up, but I hated how I was actually considering the possibility.

I turned back to the mirror, pretending to fix my hair. "You're crazy." I mumbled.

"Girls! Dinner!" my mom called. Mary K. skipped out of the room. At least she was distracted now.

I stared down at my plate as I took another mouthful of dry turkey and slightly burnt toast.

I remembered the look Hunter had given me when Cal and I met him outside Practical Magick. I remembered the literal sparks that had flown that day when I brushed him, identical to the ones I saw today. Was it really attraction?

I rinsed off my plate in the sink and walked back upstairs to my room. In the mirror I looked excited, pink cheeked, almost pretty: a vastly different creature than the Morgan I had been two months ago and a different Morgan than just two days ago.

I bounded downstairs when the doorbell rang, grabbing my coat. Mary K. was crazy. I knew that as I looked at Cal, my incredible boyfriend, my _mùirn beatha dàn_. There was no way I could be attracted to someone who made me want to tear my hair out.

But as Cal kissed me, some small inner voice told me it didn't feel right. I ignored it. Cal was the best thing to ever happen to me. What could possibly be wrong?


End file.
